One of the big questions fans have when it comes to Josh Heupel’s hire at Tennessee surrounds the coach’s ability to recruit elite talent to Rocky Top.

As we’ve seen with other coaches hired to lead the Tennessee football program, it appears the school is willing to commit all the resources it can to help its coaching staff lure top talent to Knoxville.

After bringing recruiting staffer Brandon Lawson with him from UCF to Tennessee, Josh Heupel is now adding former USC director of scouting and recruiting strategy Trey Johnson to the Volunteer recruiting staff. USC signed the Pac-12’s No. 2 ranked recruiting class in the most recent recruiting cycle.

News of Johnson’s hire at Tennessee was first reported by John Brice of FootballScoop. Johnson previously worked within Tennessee’s recruiting department from 2013-2016, he is also a Tennessee graduate.

Johnson left Tennessee for a role within the Liberty football program, which he served for one season. During that time, Liberty signed its highest-ranked recruiting class in program history.

Following his year with Liberty, USC hired Johnson to be its assistant director of player personnel and was most recently held the title of director of scouting/recruiting strategy with the Trojans.

This is the second time Heupel has hired away a member of USC’s recruiting staff as former UCF director of on-campus recruiting Angelia Brummett left the Trojans to join Tennessee’s program. Brummett is also a Tennessee graduate.